Wyatt picked up the phone and began to dial…
"Hey Tempest" Sam eased over towards the black filly while balancing a saddle on her left arm. She placed the saddle on the ground for the filly's inspection. This was a routine that they had been through before so Tempest only spared the saddle a glance before returning to grazing.
"Hullo? Jake Ely here…"
Slowly Sam lifted the saddle up off the ground. This was going to be the first time Sam put it on Tempests back. The curious filly's head jerked up from her patch of grass and her black satiny ears pricked in Sam's direction.
"Jake, there's been an accident…"
"Hey pretty girl," Sam crooned, "we're just going to see how this saddle feels on you back, ok sweetie?" Dallas, or Dad, or Jake would have chastened her for asking the horses permission but since Sam was doing this alone she only took a step closer and lifted the saddle towards Tempests back. The filly's only reaction was to stretch her nose forward for a sniff. "That's right there's nothing to be afraid of, you know I'd never hurt you sweet baby, you're fine…" Sam continued to babble nonsense as she edged closer to the filly.
"She didn't get kicked this time but…"
Slowly she lowered the old leather saddle onto tempest's back. She sidestepped a little but Sam thought she mostly just seemed curious. Sam hummed under her breath as she allowed Tempest to get used to the saddle.
"The doctors say that bump against the fence…"
As she hummed she tightened the cinch, one notch, two notches, then another, and another, until it was snug around the filly's barrel. "There now," Sam murmured, "That's not so bad is it?" apparently the filly agreed, because she dropped her head back down to graze. Sam sat down cross-legged and watched her filly as she grazed.
"…Well it triggered something that happened to her brain in the accident…"
Sam figured she'd let the Tempest get used to the saddle for a few minutes more. She tensed as Tempest sank down on her knees, then relaxed as she realized she was just going to roll over for a dust bath. But Tempest couldn't roll with a saddle on. The filly realized that at the same time Sam did.
"They say it could happen again, any time…"
She lurched to her feet and gave a halfhearted buck to dislodge it, that didn't work and she bucked again, harder this time. As she did the stirrups came up and landed back on the filly's black hide with a loud 'thump'. Tempest went ballistic. She careened around the pasture attempting to dislodge her supposed attacker. Sam longed to be able to tell her that nothing was going to hurt her, that the saddle on her back was an inanimate object, and it only moved because she did. To late, Sam realized where she was. She was in Tempests pasture, less than twenty feet from the crazed horse that was getting closer all the time. SITTING in Tempest's pasture. She scrambled up and almost made it to the gate as Tempest's hindquarters slammed into her. Almost. She was slammed into the fence and she felt her head bang the top bar, and then everything went black.
"I have to send her back to San Francisco Jake…"
When Sam woke up she didn't know where she was. She was lying in a bed but it wasn't her own, the sheets were white, the walls were white, and there was a blue curtain dividing the room in half. Everything smelled like disinfectant and something was poking her wrist. Oh. She was in the hospital. Again. Sam felt as though someone had socked her in the stomach.
"… I understand…"
She looked over at the chair beside her bed, from which came a faint snoring. Her Dad lay stretched out asleep in it. "Dad?" He stirred and then his eyes opened wide as he looked at her. "Hey Dad," Sam said weakly. He jumped up and hugged her.
"We were so worried honey, it felt just like the last time, waiting for you to wake up here in the hospital…" he murmured into her hair.
"…Jake?"
They just stared at each other for a moment after Dad released her. "It wasn't Tempest's fault," Sam blurted, "she tried to get it off, and the stirrups flapped on her side, and she got scared and…" Sam drew a breath. Wyatt nodded but the hard, pained expression he wore took Sam only a few seconds to decipher. "No! Dad PLEASE don't send me back to San Francisco," Sam begged.
"I don't know if she'll come back but…"
He looked down, "I'm afraid I have to, you'll be able to come back in a couple of years"
"No, Dad that's just it! I won't" Sam nearly shouted on desperation, "in two years I'll be going to collage and it'll be at least four years before I'm finished with that, then what?" He looked up and for a second Sam saw the hurt and surprise on his face before his expression went totally blank.
"The decisions been made Samantha, you're just going to have to accept it." Dad stood and walked out of the room with Sam staring blindly after him.
"Please take care of her for me."
